The present invention relates generally to sanding tools and, more particularly, to hand-held, manually-operated sanding tools for use with resilient abrasive articles such as sanding sponges.
Sanding sponges are commonly used to hand sand or finish a work surface, such as drywall or wood. Sanding sponges are commercially available from 3M Company, St. Paul, Minn. under the trade designation 3M Sandblaster sanding sponge. Sanding sponges are also known in the patented prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,850 (Lise et al.), for example, discloses a resilient abrasive article including a resilient elongatable substrate, abrasive particles adhesively bonded to the substrate with a flexible make coat, and a hard size coat applied over the abrasive particles and the flexible make coat.
In hand sanding, the user holds the sanding sponge directly in his or her hand to move the sanding sponge across the work surface. Sanding by hand can, or course, be an arduous task. To facilitate the hand sanding process, the sanding sponge may be placed in a holder. Holders can be readily grasped by a user to make hand sanding faster and easier. Holders for sanding sponges are known in the patented prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 6,378,237 (Gordon), for example, discloses a holder for releasably retaining an abrasive sponge. The holder comprises a base for holding the sponge therein, the base having a top surface and surfaces depending downwardly from the top surface to border the sponge partially along at least three of its sides, and a handle releasably connected to the top surface of the base.
To collect dust generated during sanding, sanding tools have been developed that can be connected with a vacuum device. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0199484 (Brown), for example, discloses a resilient sanding block of the type comprising a core having a plurality of exterior surfaces, including a first major surface and a second major surface and side surfaces, and having a layer of abrasive material disposed thereon. The resilient sanding block may have one or more apertures or through holes extending from one major surface to the other major surface and channels formed in at least one of the major surfaces, with the channels in communication with the aperture. When a vacuum source is operatively connected to the aperture, the dust created by sanding will be substantially removed into the vacuum source via the channels and the aperture. A holder for a resilient sanding block is also disclosed, as well as a handle for the holder, which together form a sanding system.
Known sanding tools suffer from one or more drawbacks or shortcomings. For example, known sanding tools may be heavy, difficult or cumbersome to use, may be expensive or difficult to manufacture, or may lack durability; the holder may interfere with the use of the abrasive article and prevent the abrasive article from sanding adjacent an edge, may not securely hold the sanding sponge, or can only be used with a sanding sponge having a certain defined size and shape; and/or the vacuum collection system may clog quickly, may create an objectionable amount of noise, or may not collect the desired quantity of dust generated during the sanding operation.
It would be desirable to provide a sanding tool that is lightweight, easy to make and use, durable, quiet, does not clog quickly, can be used with sanding sponges having a variety of shapes and sizes, and allows the abrasive article to be sand adjacent an edge.